Days Like This
by DashingFox
Summary: When the crew of the Andromeda mysteriously go missing and someone sneaks on board with out even Andromeda noticing, the only one that's left to figure out what going on is an overtired Harper. But as he discovers, things are not as they appear


_**AN: Hey guys! This is my first Andromeda fic I've written and I'm hoping to write something longer than a oneshot after my hideous exams are over. I thought posting something on Halloween (I'm sorry, I know that Halloween was yesterday for a lot of people, but I forgot) would be a good start so let's begin!**_

_**Any constructive criticism is welcome and asked for, but flamers are not**_

_**I do not own anything, unfortunately **_

* * *

In a distant galaxy, aboard the biggest baddest warship of the line, there were two people on an insufferable night shift. The youngest of the two, could barely stand still. He'd had something on his mind for the past couple of days and now seemed like the best time to bring it up being just the two of them.

"It's that time of the year again Beka." He said suggestively. The older blond woman raised her eyebrow at him.

"Oh yeah?" She replied. "And here I was thinking you'd forgotten."

"Well, can we do it again this year?" He begged, skipping over to her seat at the helm.

"I'd love to Harper, but where kind of in a different situation than we were a year ago."

"Yeah but think about how cool it would be to celebrate on Andromeda! She's got plenty of space so you don't hit your head again-" The young engineer started and promptly received a slap on the shoulder. "And it won't be just the two of us. We've got Trance and Rev and Rommie. Hell even Tyr might join in." He said excitedly, throwing his hands around for affect.

"That's all very nice, but you're forgetting one thing. This is Dylan's ship and I don't think he'll be very happy if we throw an out of control party." She reasoned, unbuckling her seatbelt and leaning her elbows on her knees.

"But Boss it's tradition." He whined.

"I know. I'll see what I can do, but don't hold your breath." She said and pointed a finger at him.

"Oh yeah, this is going to be great." He grinned.

* * *

Almost a week had passed since that conversation, but it felt like an eternity to Harper. Although he loved and adored Andromeda, his job was fulltime and left little time to relax. Adjusting to this timetable was strenuous at first, causing tiny spats within the crew and low tolerance towards a certain Nietzschien, but it wasn't like they had much choice being a compliment of six. Or seven if they counted Rommie and Harper always did.

"Hey Rom Doll?" He called out and within seconds the holographic form of Andromeda appeared next to him.

"Yes Harper?" She asked patiently.

"Where'd you and Trance stash my Sparkies because I could really do with one?" He complained, throwing his goggles onto the metallic desk and leaning back on his stool. It'd had been yet another long night and the only two things that kept him going were Sparkie Colas and the thought of a four hour nap.

"We took those away from you for a reason Harper, they're not good for you." Andromeda replied without so much as a bat of her eyes.

"You're cruel you know that?" He sulked good-naturedly and pointed a wrench at her. She didn't dignify him with a response and flickered out. "Hey Andromeda?"

"What is it Harper?" She asked exasperated and reappeared.

"Do you know if Beka's mentioned anything to Dylan?" He asked slyly.

"You'll have to be more specific."

"Well anything to do with a certain holiday that just happens to be occurring today?"

"I wasn't aware of any holidays and Dylan's away at a treaty meeting until tomorrow." Andromeda replied genuinely confused. Harper sighed and slumped his shoulders.

"Never mind." He mumbled and Andromeda disappeared for the last time. "She has been pretty busy, probably forgot." He told himself. Harper hoped that was what happened and she hadn't purposefully forgotten. No, she wouldn't, not when this holiday meant so much to him. He glanced over his work with distaste. Yep, he was definitely done for the night. Chucking his wrench down with a loud clang, he slipped off the stool and trudged down the hall. Dylan wasn't here and couldn't pull him up for neglecting one little shift. And if he did well that was just too bad.

Wandering down the corridor and taking the ladder down a deck, he reached his room. It was in absolute ruins and not his usual 'a place for everything, everything in its place' ruins. The bed was flipped, clothes were pulled out of his closet and his bits from engineering were flung everywhere. But worst of all, his surfboard was not on its wall in the promise of being ridden the next time they passed an M class planet, and was nowhere to be seen.

"What the hell?" He panicked and ran in.

"Harper what's wrong?" Andromeda asked and flickered next to him.

"Isn't it obvious? Someone's been through my stuff!" He screeched picking up one of his outrageous Hawaiian shirts and placing it on top his closet.

"Hold on." She muttered. "Someone's on-board. How they've managed to avoid being detected I don't know."

"Yeah, I figured that." He responded sarcastically. "Do you know where they are now?"

"Yes. They're in the observation deck. I'm sending Tyr and my avatar there." She paused and looked around the room. "Is there anything important missing?"

"Well my surfboard disappeared." He began and sidestepped around his room. "Hey, where's my tool-belt?" The leather belt was no longer dangling on his chair, but then something or rather a lack of, caught his eye. "No." He said softly and walked over to his bedside table. As much as he loved his surfboard and tool-belt, he would give those away in an instant for what his bedside was missing. "Andromeda, tell Tyr I'm on my way. This is the wrong day to steal from me." Harper growled and stalked out.

* * *

He stomped loudly the entire trip to the obs deck. His usual stay hidden and quiet tactics were thrown out the window the second this intruder barged into his room and made this personal. No, he was going in guns blazing and demanding where his stuff was. He punched in the code and the big purple door slid open. It was completely devoid of life and in particular, Tyr and Rommie.

"Andromeda, where are they?" Harper demanded, seething and checking all the nooks and crannies in the room. "Scratch that, where's the thief?"

"I'm sorry Harper, but he's moved into engineering." Andromeda replied.

"Of course he did. Had to be sneaky eh?" He grumbled to himself. "Ok then, where are Tyr and Rommie?"

"My avatar isn't responding and I can't find Tyr." She said, a little confused at her own readings.

"Well what about Beka and Trance?" Harper asked.

"I can't find them either. The last place they were was in engineering looking for you."

"That's just great." He muttered and made his way to engineering.

* * *

After going to engineering, then to the bridge and then even through the Jefferies tubes, the elusive intruder was still well and truly hidden. Harper hadn't given up looking for them despite how increasingly frustrated he was becoming. Opening the door to the officer's mess for the second time, he ground his teeth.

"Andromeda can't you just open the airlocks and suck him out into oblivion?" Harper grumbled and slumped in the closest chair. He received an unnerving silence. He straightened. "Andromeda?" When she didn't respond, his heart skipped a beat. His lifeline, his guide to finding this critter and his beautiful inspiration, was offline. He was completely alone.

"Don't panic. Don't panic." He murmured to himself but couldn't quite keep his voice level. "She's probably just running scans." He argued and stood up slowly, keeping a hand on the table to support himself. "Who am I kidding? She's gone." He said dejectedly.

But then, a sudden thought popped into his head and he noticed something was wrong. Why did it take the stowaway so long to hack into Andromeda's systems, yet they moved so quickly around the entire ship like they knew its layout? And out of all the rooms and all the things they could have stolen, why did they only go for Harper's most loved possessions? He had a very expensive nano-welder sitting on the table in his room when he left that morning, something any normal thief would steal. Yet they went for things that were worth next to nothing.

And why was it that whenever he'd try and locate one of the crew they 'mysteriously' dropped off the radar? Andromeda had been able to find him in an instant and was talking to him the whole time, yet no one else. Had she just wanted to keep him distracted? Did she have an ulterior motive? He shook himself and cursed his overactive mind. Andromeda would never betray him, not on her own accord. Then he shivered. Had the intruder re-wired her and made her send him on a wild goose chase while they reeked havoc?

Harper took a step forward, back turned to the door. If he hadn't have been in a panic, he may have heard the sound of footsteps behind him and he probably wouldn't have had such a dramatic reaction when a large hand rested on his shoulder. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he came face to face with its owner.

"Harper! Harper it's me, calm down." The deep voice told him.

"Dylan? What are you doing here?" Harper gasped, still clutching his heart.

"I came back early when Andromeda sent a distress call." Dylan explained. Harper narrowed his eyes, almost a little suspicious.

"I don't remember a distress signal being sent." He said. Dylan's composure slipped for the briefest of moments, but that's all it took. "What's going on?"

"Look Harper, we don't have time for this. We've got to get to the Maru." Dylan said and grabbed his elbow, pulling him out the door. Harper remained skeptical but followed behind.

"So er, why exactly do we have to get to the Maru?" He asked slowly, eying the back of Dylan's head.

"I'll explain when we get there." He replied without looking at him. Harper's pace slowed drastically and Dylan stopped when he realised he wasn't being followed. "What is it?"

"How did you get back from the conference so quickly? If Andromeda sent out a distress signal, she would have sent it out just minutes ago." Harper asked. Dylan stared at him for a few seconds.

"You're just going to have to trust me." He replied.

"Come on Boss, you can do better than that."

"Do I need to make that an order?" Dylan challenged, head tilted ever so slightly.

"Please, you should know that by now that I don't take orders, unless of course they're made by a beautiful woman. Although most of the time it's to get out of their face." Harper argued. Dylan glared daggers at the young engineer and took a few steps towards him. Harper had to look up to keep eye contact.

"You will get on the Maru now." Dylan growled, hand hovering over his force-lance. Harper glowered at him for a few moments more.

"Yes sir, mister fearless leader sir." He sneered. This seemed to make Dylan buckle slightly. He rubbed his face and sighed.

"Fine. The rest of the crew is already on the Maru. We caught the stowaway and taking him to the closest space dock." Dylan explained. Although there were so many things wrong with that plan like the fact that the whole crew was jumping on board and leaving Andromeda completely salvageable, Harper could tell that Dylan was really trying to cooperate, so he would just have to suck it up and trust him.

"Alright then." Harper relaxed slightly. "You really gotta start talking to me Boss because at this rate I still don't know a thing about you including whether I should take your word." He continued towards the hanger bay and Dylan kept a small distance between them.

"Yeah we should get to know each other more. Let's start with why you're in a sour mood today?"

"It's a long story, one beginning with a fourteen hour shift." Harper replied bitterly. Dylan didn't respond. "Look it's just a thing. Something that'll be over at the end of the day and I won't have to think about it for another year."

"Would you like to talk about it?" Dylan asked carefully.

"Nah." Harper said and wafted a hand. They eventually reached the Hanger Bay and then entered the Maru. Dylan made sure he was behind Harper at all times and when Harper turned to give him a strange look while walking to the bar of the Maru, he got the fright of his life.

"SURPRISE!" A chorus of shouts welcomed him. Due to facing the wrong way at the wrong time, Harper had not expected four friendly and one tolerant face to be the first thing he saw. He lost his footing in the fright and landed on the ground with little grace and a yelp. Everyone laughed and Dylan extended a hand to help him up, but all Harper could see were coloured streamers. They covered every bit of the walls and ceiling along with all kind of sparkly and bright decorations.

"Didn't think I'd forget did ya?" Beka asked with a big smile when Harper had gotten to his feet. For his all brilliant and genius mind, he still hadn't connected the dots until that moment. A grin grew on his face and his eyes widened when he finally understood. There was no intruder. Andromeda had distracted him that whole time. He knew he loved that Valentine for a reason.

"Jeez Boss, did you really have to send me on an adventure round the entire ship?"

"Couldn't let you let you sit around and dwell." She said and threw an arm around his shoulders. He happily linked his arm around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder.

"Thanks Bek."

"I apologise for the state of your room Master Harper but Beka insisted I made a mess for show." Rev Bem interjected with a toothy smile. Harper felt his grin slip almost immediately.

"Before you freak out." Beka jumped in, knowing full well what Rev had just started and pulled him over to the bar. Harper nearly did a double take at what he saw. His surfboard sat propped up right, leaning against the counter. In front of it was his tool-belt, laid carefully on the metallic surface and in front of that was a photo frame. It was of a family. His family, before Beka. The photo in it was the only think he brought on board the Maru when he first joined, despite Beka's block-headed boyfriend's strict instructions against personal effects.

"I thought I'd do it right this year. You know, respect them properly." Beka told him quietly. A small smile cracked his face and he cleared his throat when he felt it go scratchy.

"Thanks. Everyone." He said softly facing the rest of the crew. They nodded and even Tyr looked up from whatever had his attention.

"Yes well, the magog can not take all of the credit for your quarters. However when I was in the process of throwing your clothes around, I happened to find several of my weapons that I did not know were missing. Care to explain?" Tyr asked calmly. Harper's eyes shifted nervously and he laughed.

"I was going to give them back Tyr, honest!" He said quickly. Luckily, Beka swooped in to save the day again.

"So, shall we start the celebrations?" She asked. There were numerous excited responses. Music was turned on, alcohol was unleashed and the party began. Harper immediately pounced on the cheese and dip, claiming it as his own and sending Dylan many glares when he tried to approach it. Tyr left within the first fifteen minutes, but by then Harper was a bit too intoxicated to care. The party lasted long into the night with much laughter and chatting. By about midnight, Rev and Trance decided to call it a night with Trance giggling uncontrollably. They were closely followed by Rommie and all that was left were Dylan, Harper and Beka. Harper had a silly grin plastered to his face, leaning against Beka on his bar stool.

"You did awesome this year Boss." He told her. "Better than last year." She had remained sober and scruffed his hair up.

"Only for you Seamus." She replied and yawned. "I think I'm going to go to bed. I'll just be down the hall so give me a shout if you need me." He nodded, his smile still well and truly stuck on his face. "Oh yeah, I'm cutting you off." She snatched the bottle from his hands with little complaint and threw it in the bin. He'd completely forgotten Dylan was sitting across from him and started mumbling softly.

"Harper?" Dylan asked in attempt to get his attention. The boy squinted at the source of the voice and smiled again when he recognised Dylan.

"Other Boss, I thought you'd left!" He said stupidly. "You know, it gets kind of confusing having to switch bosses all the time." Dylan laughed. Although he hadn't had nearly as much beer as his young engineer, he could still feel the affects of the alcohol in his system. However, there was something on the captain's mind, but he kept thinking that if he asked, Harper would end up throwing something.

"What is it Boss? You look like you're trying to tell the difference between a male and female Nightsider." Harper asked. Dylan was a little taken aback by his comment. Had he really been that obvious that even a drunk Harper could pick up on it? He sighed.

"I understand that today you're respecting your family and that's why Beka threw this party for you. But if you don't mind me asking, what happened?" Dylan asked cautiously. Harper stared at his hands, quietly debating what he should answer with.

"Some things aren't meant to be said." He muttered softly. Dylan nodded, deciding not to push the issue and further.

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow then." Dylan replied and stood up to leave.

"Wait." Harper stopped him with a hint of desperation. Dylan stayed standing for a moment and then returned to his seat. "I guess since I'm not getting any kids in the near future I may as well pass on the story to someone." He said. Dylan immediately felt guilty.

"You don't have to tell me." He began

"Boss. Shut up." Harper interrupted and although impossible, he sounded like he'd instantly sobered. So Dylan complied. "When I was sixteen, my cousins and I moved to a little camp site known as 'Camp Green', despite the lack of trees or even weeds for miles. My cousins assured me that we'd be safe from the Nietzscheans and the Magog. So I believed them. We lived there for about three weeks before our little camp was discovered. The Magog trampled in and by some miracle we weren't slaughtered. But then a week later, an Uber scouting party found us." Harper paused briefly.

"It all happened so fast, but I remember my eldest cousin telling me and Brenden to run as fast as we could before they spotted us. So we did. We ran for ages and ages. But we got split up. I can only hope that he managed to find somewhere to hide like I did. By the end of the month, I'd left Earth all together." Somewhere in the story, Harper had acquired a napkin and he didn't realise how distracted he was until he looked down to see it in a million pieces. He sighed tiredly.

"Today was the day I lost the remainder of my family to those rotten, bone headed thugs. They only family I had Dylan." Dylan had been silent throughout Harper's story. Although Dylan had known him for just over three months, he'd always assumed that Harper had had an awful childhood due to the Magog and Nietzscheans, but he never really understood how much they'd taken away from him.

"Beka found out in the first year I was with her. She came up with the crazy idea that we should throw a party to celebrate them and keep my mind off it at the same time. It became sorta like a tradition." Harper continued, blue eyes becoming hazy from the alcohol. "I was so convinced that she'd forgotten this year, that she'd just been too busy. But I should have know better, she'd never forget. I would have thrown one all by myself though, invited the holographic Andromeda, I reckon she gets lonely." He added.

"Harper I want you to understand something." Dylan finally said. "You will never be without a family. You've got us. A little dysfunctional, but a family none the less. And while we're at it, I'll also make you a promise. While Andromeda's under my control and you are a part of my crew, I will ensure that all meetings, conferences or Bat Mitzvahs are cancelled and this day is dedicated to you." He said strongly with that 'will not be swayed' look on his face.

"Thanks Boss." The awkward silence that followed was only filled when Dylan's elbow knocked an empty bottle off the counter. It fell with a smash. They both winced when they heard footsteps running quickly in their way.

"I thought I cut you off." Beka snapped and glared towards Harper. He sent an unimpressed look towards Dylan.

"Thanks." He said sarcastically. Dylan shrugged his shoulders innocently. She gave him one more warning glance before trudging back down the hall and into her quarters.

"I'll be alright Dylan." Harper said once he was sure Beka was out of earshot. "I know I complain about how much I have to do all the time, but I love it here on Andromeda. I don't think I've ever fallen in love with a ship as beautiful as her before. And I may not be swimming in cash but at least I got an income." Dylan nodded and got up for the last time.

"That's very true Mr Harper." He said and gave him a pat on the shoulder. As he was leaving, a thought struck his mind and he spun around. "Wait, you said that you were sixteen when it happened. Does that mean you were sixteen when you joined Beka?" He asked, confusion evident on his face.

"Yeah." Harper answered, uncomfortable with where his captain was going.

"How old are you Harper?" Dylan asked. Harper dropped his eyes down to his hands and waited a beat before answering.

"I turn twenty next month." Dylan was mortified. This whole time he'd had Harper working in the most dangerous parts of the ship and he was only nineteen? He could tell how down the engineer had become, so instead of showing his horror, he thought he'd lighten the mood.

"So you're only nineteen? Well that's funny because the legal age of a Commonwealth officer to be working full time on any star ship is twenty-one." Dylan said with a laugh. Harper looked up in shock.

"You're not going to kick me off are you?" He asked, the alcohol still strong in his fear-laced voice.

"Oh no. I only have one engineer, what will happen if the ship breaks?" Dylan asked him rhetorically. "But that does mean that anyone over the age of twenty one on this ship is your legal guardian, which funnily enough is everyone. Guess you're actually going to have to follow orders." Harper didn't say anything but his frown disappeared in almost an instant.

"Does that mean I get penalty rates?" He asked hopefully. Dylan shook his head with a smile and turned, leaving Harper to figure it out himself.

"Boss?" Harper called out and watched as Dylan's back disappeared from view. He got up and stretched unsteadily, but before heading off to his quarters on the Maru he gave one more glance to the photo frame on the counter.

"Happy Halloween guys."

**_The End_**


End file.
